Fuse virtual with live events to create greater valuee

Informa Markets creates platforms for industries and specialist markets to trade， innovate and grow through face-to-face exhibitions， targeted digital services and actionable data solutions. “Our business strategy is all about helping suppliers find high-opportunity buyers –and helping buyers find qualified suppliers.” Charlie McCurdy， CEO of Informa Markets introduces.

As one of the worlds largest organizers， and with its network in China， Informa Markets reacted quickly in the pandemic. Charlie McCurdy shares that the outbreak of COVID-19 caught the company managements attention early， in the main thanks to the 1，000 colleagues based in Mainland China. They responded very quickly and kept the headquarter informed as the situation developed. This enabled the company to launch their Postponement Programme， which focused on rescheduling its events to later in the year.

The show hiatus led the Informa Markets teams in every vertical market and every part of the world to quickly and effectively connect its customers with their communities through digital channels. Since March it has hosted hundreds of virtual events， webinars and online networking opportunities worldwide. Its CPhI & P-MEC China team， for example， started working on a seven-day virtual expo back in February， which combined online matchmaking， virtual buyer meetings， webinars， virtual factory tours， digital showrooms and conferences via webcast. It took place at the end of June， attracting over 2.3 million views from 50 countries and connected over 40，000 buyers with leads through online meetings. “And while I would never have wished for this experience – the pause in delivering exhibitions as usual has helped us to accelerate the large-scale delivery of highvalue digital products and services.” Charlie McCurdy comments.

The company also took this time to develop Informa AllSecure， an approach to enhanced health and safety standards， which includes commitments in areas such as cleaning， health screening， and the availability of first aid at events. In June， the company was very pleased to open the doors once again at its first post-COVID-19 live event： Chengdu China Beauty Expo， closely followed by China Beauty Expo in Shanghai in July. Both events were run in accordance with Informa AllSecure and were a strong success， surpassing expectations in terms of visitor numbers.

Considering the future trends， Charlie McCurdy predicts that events are going to look very different in a post-COVID-19 world. Now， Informa Markets is working with its venue partners to put worldclass bio-safety measures in place and all its events will be run in accordance with Informa AllSecure. “Importantly， well be taking what weve learnt in developing our digital products and services and fusing them with our live events to create greater value for our customers， all year round，” he says.